You do not need to spend a dime to have a great day in Santa Monica. Between the Santa Monica Pier, Palisades Park, and the beach bike path, some of the best experiences in town are completely free — you just have to know where the locals actually go. This guide rounds up the free things to do in Santa Monica that are genuinely worth your time, plus honest tips on when to go and how to make the most of them.

The best free things to do in Santa Monica

Start with the places locals never get tired of. The Santa Monica Pier is the one almost everyone recommends first — it captures what makes Santa Monica feel like Santa Monica, and it costs nothing to enjoy. From there, Palisades Park gives you a completely different side of town, while the beach bike path and Tongva Park round out a full day without a single admission fee.

• The Santa Monica Pier — the quintessential free Santa Monica outing, and a good place to start if it is your first time.
• Palisades Park — worth the trip for the change of scenery; bring water and comfortable shoes.
• The beach bike path — a local favorite that rarely shows up in tourist guides.
• Tongva Park — easy to combine with the others for a full free day out.

Free parks & outdoor spots in Santa Monica

Some of the best free things to do in Santa Monica are simply being outside. The parks, trails, and waterfronts here are open to everyone, and they are where neighbors walk dogs, run, picnic, and catch a sunset. For a fuller rundown of green space, see our guide to parks and outdoor spots in Santa Monica. Pack a picnic instead of buying lunch and an afternoon outdoors costs nothing at all.

Free culture, art & history in Santa Monica

You can soak up the culture of Santa Monica without paying for it. Look for free museum days and community hours, self-guided historic walks, public art, and library programs — most neighborhoods have more free culture than residents realize. Following a local calendar is the easiest way to catch free concerts, gallery openings, and pop-up markets around Santa Monica; our Santa Monica events guide is a good place to track them.

Free things to do with kids in Santa Monica

Families do not have to spend much to keep kids busy here. Playgrounds, splash pads, nature centers, and free library story times give you a full day on a budget. For more family-specific ideas, see things to do with kids in Santa Monica.

When to go

Free spots in Santa Monica are busiest on warm weekends and holidays. If you prefer smaller crowds, go early on a weekday morning or in the hour before sunset — you will get the same views and open space with far fewer people. Seasonal timing matters too: spring and fall are ideal for the outdoor spots, while summer is best for waterfronts and evening events.

What locals actually recommend

The best free tips in Santa Monica rarely make it into a guidebook — they come from neighbors who know which trail is quiet, which day the museum is free, and where the best sunset spot is. That is exactly what the free Santa Monica community on Neighborhood Nurturers is for: real residents sharing honest, current recommendations. Ask Santa Monica neighbors what is free and worth it right now, or join your town community free. For paid outings too, see our full guide to things to do in Santa Monica.

The Best Free Thing in Santa Monica Is 22 Miles Long

If you do one free thing here, make it the Marvin Braude Bike Trail. It is a 22-mile paved path running almost entirely along the shoreline of Santa Monica Bay, from Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades at the north end to Torrance County Beach at the south. Santa Monica sits roughly in the middle of it, which means you can pick a direction and a distance and turn around whenever you like.

Walking it costs nothing. Running it costs nothing. The only expense is a bike if you do not own one, and you do not need to ride the full length to get the point: the four miles south from the Santa Monica Pier toward Venice, or the two miles north toward the Palisades bluffs, deliver essentially the same experience as the whole thing. Most residents use it as a commuting and exercise route rather than a sightseeing one, which tells you how good it is.

The practical catch is the wind. Afternoon onshore breeze along this stretch is consistent and strong, so ride out into it and come back with it behind you rather than the reverse. Locals learn this once.

The Pier Costs Nothing to Walk

This confuses a lot of first-time visitors. Admission to the Santa Monica Pier is free. There is no gate and no ticket. What costs money are the individual rides at Pacific Park, the arcade, and the food. You can walk the entire length, watch the fishing off the end, see the Ferris wheel lit up, and leave having spent nothing.

Several things on the pier are worth knowing about specifically. The Looff Hippodrome at the south end houses a carousel with 44 hand-carved horses and was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1975 — the building itself is free to walk into, even if you skip the ride. In 2009 the pier was dedicated as the official western terminus of Route 66, and the sign marking it is one of the most photographed free objects in the city. The Pacific Wheel is the world’s first and only solar-powered Ferris wheel, carrying more than 174,000 LED lights, and watching it run after dark from the beach below costs nothing at all.

Free Parks With Real Design Behind Them

Tongva Park is a six-acre park named for the Tongva people, the region’s Indigenous inhabitants. It is laid out as four distinct areas — Observation Hill, Discovery Hill, Garden Hill and Gathering Hill — planted with native and climate-appropriate species. Discovery Hill carries the family amenities: a splash pad, a play area and shaded picnic space. Gathering Hill has an amphitheatre that hosts free concerts, and the park contains the Weather Field art installation. For a park of its size it is unusually well designed, and it is a far better place to spend an hour than the Promenade two blocks away.

Palisades Park is the long, narrow strip along the coastal bluffs above the beach, and it is the single best free view in the city. Panoramic Santa Monica Bay, palm trees, monuments and public artwork, and a path that runs for well over a mile. Sunset here is the thing residents bring out-of-town visitors to see when they want to impress them without spending anything.

Annenberg Community Beach House is free to enter. This is worth stating plainly because people assume otherwise: there is no membership requirement, and the only part of the property that charges admission is the swimming pool. The grounds, the historic Marion Davies Guest House and the beach access are open to the public.

Odd, Free and Genuinely Local

Original Muscle Beach sits just south of the pier and is not the same place as Muscle Beach in Venice — a distinction locals will correct you on. It is an open-air oceanside fitness area with rings, bars and sand, free to use, and it is the actual historical birthplace of the Southern California physical-culture scene. Watching the regulars on the rings on a weekend morning is free entertainment of a high order.

The Santa Monica Stairs, off Adelaide Drive near the Pacific Palisades border, are two public staircases used as an outdoor workout: 170 wooden steps and a separate set of 199 concrete steps. The concrete set is the more stable of the two and is what most serious climbers use. There is no fee and no sign-up. Be aware that this runs through a residential neighborhood, parking is tight and restricted, and residents are sensitive about noise early in the morning.

Camera Obscura Art Lab at 1450 Ocean Avenue is a City of Santa Monica public cultural facility, and admission to the building has always been free. One honest caveat: the historic camera obscura mechanism itself has had restricted public access in recent years and now generally opens for special events rather than daily drop-in viewing. The art lab downstairs operates as a community arts space regardless. Confirm current access before making a special trip for the optical device specifically.

How to Build a Genuinely Free Day

A day that costs nothing but a parking space, in a sensible order: start at Palisades Park in the morning while the light is good and the marine layer is burning off, walk south along the bluffs, drop down to the pier and walk its length, continue past Original Muscle Beach, then pick up the bike path south for as long as you feel like walking. Turn around, cut inland to Tongva Park in the afternoon, and end back on the bluffs for sunset.

Two things to plan around. First, parking is the only real cost of a free day here, and it is not trivial — the difference between the right structure and the wrong lot can be substantial over a full day. The parking guide linked from this page exists precisely for this. Second, the marine layer. May and June bring the overcast pattern locals call May Gray and June Gloom, and a free beach day in those months can mean grey skies until early afternoon. September and October are the clearest, warmest months of the year and are the best time to do all of the above.

One more note: the Wednesday and Saturday farmers markets are free to walk through even if you buy nothing, and the Saturday one in particular is a genuine local institution rather than a tourist attraction. There is a separate guide for those on this site.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best free things to do in Santa Monica?

Some of the best free things to do in Santa Monica include the Santa Monica Pier, Palisades Park, the beach bike path, and Tongva Park — all open to the public at no cost. Locals also recommend watching for free museum days and community events.

What can I do in Santa Monica for free with kids?

Playgrounds, splash pads, nature centers, and free library story times are the easiest budget-friendly options in Santa Monica. See our things-to-do-with-kids guide for more family ideas.

Are there free things to do in Santa Monica at night?

Yes — free evening options in Santa Monica include sunset walks along the waterfront and trails, public art, and free concerts or events. Check a local events calendar for what is on this week.

How do I find out about free events in Santa Monica?

The most reliable way is to ask locals directly. The Santa Monica community on Neighborhood Nurturers shares current free events, and our Santa Monica events guide tracks what is coming up.